The England coach, Tony Smith, has invited a barrage of criticism, by no means all of it from the Wigan area, in preferring Richie Myler to Sam Tomkins to fill the key scrum-half role in Friday's opening fixture of the Gillette Four Nations series against France in Doncaster.

When the talented youngsters played alongside each other in England's warm-up game against Wales in Bridgend last Saturday, Tomkins excelled with a hat-trick, while Myler looked understandablyrusty in his first match for more than two months.

But Smith, who had already raised eyebrows by dropping established international half-backs such as Rob Burrow and Leon Pryce from his Four Nations squad, has eschewed the easy, crowd-pleasing option of picking Tomkins, believing that Myler will form a more effective partnership with Danny McGuire – the experienced Leeds stand-off who returns to the side after being rested last weekend.

"I know if we opted for Sam Tomkins in that position he'd do a good job but we think the combination of Myler and McGuire is right for this match," the coach explained after training in Leeds today. They dovetailed so effectively when England demolished France 66-12 in Paris in June that Myler set a new record for the fixture by scoring 30 points from three tries and nine goals.

But since then he has rarely played, as Salford punished him for his desire to link up at club level with Smith at Warrington by omitting him from their team for the last third of the Super League season. Meanwhile Tomkins has emerged as a regular for Wigan, and the outspoken former Great Britain scrum-half Alex Murphy dismissed suggestions that he does not yet have the experience to play in such a pivotal position at international level.

"I'd already been on two tours to Australia by the time I was Sam's age," said Murphy. "For the first time in ages we have a player in our game who I genuinely enjoy watching. He generates excitement and anticipation every time he has the ball."

Tomkins has even missed out on a place on the interchange bench, which goes instead to the uncapped Kyle Eastmond of St Helens, an equally exciting talent who, crucially, also has the ability to play in the outside backs – and, if necessary, to kick goals. Eastmond. "I'm looking forward to seeing him in his first game," said Smith. "He's comfortable in a lot of positions and he'll bring versatility from the bench," Smith said of

Tom Briscoe, the 19-year-old Hull wing who was called into the squad yesterdayas a replacement for Sean O'Loughlin, is surprisingly preferred to Hull KR's Peter Fox, and the Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield makes a potentially significant return at loose forward.